Dalvin Cook's Contract Dilemma

When thinking of a colloquial phrase that best summarizes star Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook, “a dime a dozen” does the most justice. After suffering a torn labrum in his freshman season at Florida State University Cook went on to have a solid college career for the Seminoles. Cook crafted a college career that would culminate into Cook being the school’s all-time leading rusher. This explosion of offensive production following his first season set-back attracted the Minnesota Vikings to draft Cook in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Unfortunately after four games with the Vikings Cook tore his ACL in their week 4 matchup against the Detroit Lions. History often repeats itself as this was the unlucky case for Cook and the yearning Vikings front office, who thought they had finally found their next star running back since Adrian Peterson.

Proof of Concept

Since his rookie season Dalvin Cook has been nearly everything the Vikings front office was hoping for, averaging nearly five yards per carry and over 1,000 yards rushing in the past four seasons. This consistent play landed Cook a massive contract extension in September of 2020, 5 years $63 million with $16 million fully guaranteed. This large extension suggests that Minnesota’s front office assumed Cook would continue to be their long term option in the backfield. This assumption has come to bite the Vikings in the behind after Cook was not willing to restructure his contract from $10.4 million a year this offseason. The reasoning behind the restructuring of Cook’s contract becomes more apparent when thinking about the Vikings long term future. Due to Cook’s inability to restructure, the Vikings were forced to pick up star wide receiver Justin Jefferson’s fifth year option in his rookie contract. The lack of cap space, a product of Cook not willing to negotiate, has hemorrhaged the Vikings ability to hopefully find a suitor to take over Cook’s massive contract. The major negative to taking on Cook’s contract comes with the outcome of giving up massive draft capitol as well as the cap hit that it will incur  when and if Cook signs with a new team. This major cap hit will only come to fruition if the Vikings deal Cook in a trade. If the Vikings decide to cut Cook outright, Cook is then an unrestricted free agent and the Vikings are released of his $14 million salary cap hit.

Red Flags

Besides Cook’s durability, the other major red flag that has been exposed during the past two months is Dalvin Cook’s overall desire. In today’s NFL, and professional sports as a whole, a player's overall career desire has come to the forefront of NFL front offices minds after seemingly every off season a new record setting contract is signed. Dalvin Cook has shown that he can be a premier running back in the NFL and has been reimbursed accordingly in 2020. After his inability to restructure this massive extension, I now wonder if Dalvin Cook has his eyes on maintaining a similar salary with a new team or if Cook’s goal is like that of the greats, winning Super Bowls. Purely based on the fact that Cook was not willing to even consider restructuring his contract should show the Vikings front office that it is time to move on, given that Cook is more concerned with his own bank statement than NFL resumé. This is apparent as the other week the social media team of the Vikings removed Cook from all their site's header pictures on various social media accounts. The problem with moving on from Cook, who still has two years left on his contract, is finding a potential suitor that is willing to do business with a Vikings team that will be asking for a large sum in return.

Reasonable Doubt

Dalvin Cook’s career in the NFL has been one mainly of trials and tribulations when it comes to staying on the football field for consecutive games. When Cook has managed to stay healthy he is one of the top ten running backs in the NFL. Cook is the best example of the phrase “a dime a dozen”, due to his lack of consistency when it comes to his ability to stay healthy. Granted all of the blame cannot be laid on Cook’s shoulders. The NFL is a game of attrition and adversity, which directly affects the modern era running back. When evaluating running back talent in today’s modern game the running back is now seen as the most disposable position in the NFL due to the sheer volume of players that can produce for three to five seasons on their first contract. Paying running backs like Dalvin Cook a large paycheck is the biggest gamble in the NFL purely based on how teams utilize their backfield position players.

Dalvin’s contract - if traded - would basically be a one year mercenary acquisition and likely for a late round asset.

The Dolphins freed up a bunch of space with post June-1 cuts.

Cook is from Miami and is a dream fit for the system (if healthy).

It makes sense to me. 🤷🏼‍♂️ https://t.co/fP5uM0dGgc

— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) May 31, 2023

Final Outlook

In order for any aspiring team to acquire Cook, said team will have to give up at least a second and third round pick to sign Cook. I do not believe Cook is worth more than listed above in draft capital due to his massive remaining contract, which will need to be extended in 2026. Cook’s looming remaining salary can be a tough pill to swallow for many NFL front offices, along with his significant injury history, will cause many problems for both parties as each side wants to both get a deal done professionally. If the Vikings are not able to find the right suitor for Cook, Vikings fans will most likely see Cook be released. If Cook does not suit up for the purple and gold in the 2023-24 season, the Vikings will be forced to view Cook as one of the biggest sunk costs in their franchise history, especially after anticipating finding their first franchise running back since Adrian Peterson.